A Peculiar People: Iowa's Old Order Amish

CHAPTER THREE. Religious Practices

CHAPTER T H R E E Religious Practices Early Sunday morning in an Old Order Amish community a long string of black buggies can be seen moving slowly down the road, all headed for a particular farmstead. This procession means that it is church meeting time for the Plain People. This particular day is an important one to the Amish as they come together to worship with other members of their faith. The time will be spent singing, praying, listening to preaching, and doing a great deal of visiting. Not only will religious matters be dealt with during the morning but community matters as well. However, Sunday is not the only day when the Amish are concerned with their church; they live in a world shaped totally by their religious convictions. Their tenets decree that they live among other Amish, reject modernism in any form, and separate themselves from the world. The basic community organization is the church district, and within that body the bishop is the religious and secular leader. Because of the all.pervasive qualities of religious life, an Amish member is constantly reminded, spiritually or physically, of his or her convictions. AMISH RELIGIOUS BELIEFS The major religious beliefs of tbe Old Order Amish are set down in the Dortrecht Confession of Faith, a document written at Dortrecht, Holland, in 1632. The confession contains eighteen articles that cover all the basic religious tenets of the Old Order Amish (see Appendix C). Most important are the Anabaptist principle of adult baptism, separation from the world, nonresistance and refusal to bear arms, and 23 24 CHAPTER THREE refusal to take an oath. To the Amish, adult baptism means that the individual is making the choice to believe rather than parents as in the case of infant baptism. Separation from the world is supported by two Bible verses: "And be not conformed to this world: but ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2); and "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" (II Corinthians 6: 14). Nonresistance means that Amishmen will never bear arms nor retaliate when treated in a hostile manner. Regarding their refusal to take oaths (except to God), they have sometimes been to testify in court, which requires the swearing of an oath. Some have been able to solve this dilemma by asking permission to state, "I affirm" rather than' 'I swear. ' '1 Articles are also included in the Dortrecht Confession covering behavior in the areas of shunning, communion, and matrimony. The remainder of the rules governing conduct are usually imposed by local church districts; these are unwritten and typically of a less comprehensive nature. If the Amish members obey the rules of the church and live in "full fellowship" or in harmony with their religion, they have hope of salvation or lebendige Hoffnung. 2 To state that they are assured of salvation, however, is considered vain and boastful. THE CHURCH DISTRICT Every Old Order Amish community is divided into church districts that provide the basic form of religious, political, and social organization for Amish society. Each district contains from fifteen to thirty families who live in close proximity to one another. The most obvious need for establishment of districts is apparent when an families within a given district come together at a member's home for their Sunday morning church service. Given their horse and buggy mode of transportation. they must live fairly close so that minimum time is spent traveling. The number of families within each church district must also be limited because even though large homes are commonplace, they can rarely accommodate more than 100 people. Since the Amish have no statewide or national religious organization or leaders, each church district is largely autonomous in matters that affect members, whether religious, political, or economic in nature. The choice of religious leaders is totally RELIGIOUS PRACTICES 25 in the hands of the church district membership. Once selected, the bighest religious official, the bishop, then in the fullest sense becomes the leader of his people. The rules as defined by the bishop are unwritten but well understood by all members of the church district. Assisting the bishop in all his duties are two or more ministers and sometimes one or two deacons...